28 August 2008: The day begins at 2am, when we finally fall asleep. The feeling is one of high anticipation, touched with a sense of anxiety that I'm sure is exponentially higher for Carrie. Around 4am, I woke with a start as Carrie was getting out of bed. "Ooh; everything okay, woman?" I ask. "Yep, just gotta pee." Seconds later, I'm back asleep.
5:00 comes just as quickly as you'd suspect, and even the cats weren't awake. After a couple of short snoozes, I hit the shower. We managed to pack and repack everything the night before, so that we wouldn't have to think too much in the morning. The Pontiac horses are saddled, and we make our way to Baylor.
After a brief check in, we're taken down the hall to room 112, or something similar. I know it has a 12 in it, anyway. It's a pretty big room, and a decent daddy chair stands ready against the wall. Guess where I am right now.
I'm going to chronicle the day in military time, because I've always felt that using "a," "p" and "m" for time designation was a waste of good letters.
1900: Carrie has her IV at this point, and they're getting the "Let's Have a Baby" juice, a.k.a. Potosin. Our nurse's name is Jamecia, I think. Again; it's way too early to think at this point, and my brain is the only one in the room that hasn't been challenged mentally. They've checked her cervix, and she's around 2cm dilated. The inducing has begun!
0830: The Potosin is doing its job, and we have our first visit from the doc. She decided that to speed things along, she would break Carrie's water. Okay; that worked. Contractions have started.
0916: Her last contraction merits an "8" on the pain scale. The reality of this entire day is settling in really quickly, and I'm realizing that two nights in a row of sleeplessness is taking its toll on both of us. We know that we have a long day ahead of us, and it's key to pace our energy right now. That, and the two episodes of "Saved by the Bell." That gets to me pretty damn quick.
1004: The decision has been made to kick in some pain meds. Carrie's a trooper, but it's time to bring that 8 down to a 4 or so. It's gonna be a long day, kids.
1131: Contractions are steady. She's going from passed out from pain meds to waking up and squirming… Carrie + Drugs = bad experiences, I think. I'm doing my best to be supportive, but the meds have made her pretty lucid, so I could be talking about tattooing our daughter's name on my butt and she wouldn't know the difference. Good times.
1204: The decision is made that she wants the epidural. Anesthesiologist's on his way… until then, its breathe and wait.
1220: Epidural gooooood… Amidst the small talk that I shared with the doctor, I mentioned that we were originally from southeast Missouri, and he said, "Like Cape Girardeau?" Well, smack my mama; he's heard of Cape! He got Carrie taken care of lickety-split, and her spirits lifted pretty quickly. Shortly after the epidural placement, her parents arrived. Time for lunch…
1330: A Chik-Fil-A sandwich later, Carrie's dad and I are back in the room, just in time to find out about the nausea. Just another one of the many pleasures of labor, ladies! Looks like that Aquafina wasn't so fina after all-a.While I was gone for lunch, the doc came in for a check up. Carrie's around 4cm now, and (this is paraphrased) you can expect about a centimeter an hour. Okay… so, Carrie should be at 10 cm by 1900. That's a long time, to be certain, but then you have to throw on the 2-3 hours of pushing time, and you suddenly get the big picture of what childbirth is all about. The stuff you see on TV is bullshit; don't believe the hype.
1710: almost 10 cm!!! she's really progressed quickly. SO much that I need to go--[ed. ps.; i stopped typing here because the last thing I wanted to do was to piss off the nurses becuase "dad won't get off the damn laptop"]
1750: the doc should be back in about ten to check her out personally, and if everything is cool we'll set up with the green light to push push push! I know this hasn't been the most creatively written blog I've ever done, but dammit; I'm going on 12 hours at the hospital in a baby shit green chair with the most awkward sitting position ever. Not to mention, I'M GONNA BE A DAD IN A FEW HOURS SO BACK OFF. Oh, sorry; I didn't get an epidural. I thought about tapping the lines, but voted against it.
1753: checking to see if that last little bit of her cervix is gone and then it's time to start pushing!!!
29 August 2008: and here we are.
0139: ...and pushing commenced. I will write a more detailed completion to this blog later, but for now, here are the vital stats:
Layla Marie Burgfeld
21" 8lb 9.2oz
Born at 1957, 28 August 2008
Here is our current hospital information:
Baylor University Medical Center
3500 Gaston Ave
Dallas TX 75246
Room 725
Jonsson Hospital
Room Direct Line: 214-818-9725
Like I said, more to come, but we want to say thank you to everyone who was praying and writing and texting and anticipating right beside us through this whole ordeal. Layla is absolutely breathtaking; I am so in love.
For now, enjoy some pics.
Peace,
D
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